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Lady Vashj
Lady Vashj (pronounced Vash) was born more than ten thousand years ago in the city of Zin-Azshari, capital of the Night Elves. Vashj was Highborne (Quel'dorei) and rose through the ranks to become one of Queen Azshara's favored handmaidens. Vashj was fanatically loyal to Azshara and was infuriated when the queen offered to make Tyrande Whisperwind her majordomo. Vashj tried to kill Tyrande on several occasions, but was stopped each time by the intervention of Elune. Vashj was the second Elf to become naga, after Azshara herself. (Vashj never actually encountered Tyrande in the Third War — Lady Serpentra and Serena Scarscale fought the battles in the broken Isles and the force that defeated Vashj at Dalaran was led by Furion — we can assume that Illidan was aware of the women's history and thought it best they not meet.) Vashj leans on her combat abilities more than her sorcery, but she is still a formidable sorceress. She is peerless with her magic bow (Sylvanas Windrunner and Shandris Feathermoon are the only archers who're better). She favors wind and water elemental powers when casting offensively. A retinue of naga myrmidon bodyguards always accompanies her. When Queen Azshara finally decided to make the naga's existence known, she sent Lady Vashj to establish contact to with the surface dwellers. Lady Vashj met the demon-cursed Illidan and they struck a pact to aid each other against their night elf enemies. Vashj and her people were quick to join him, and their first act of loyalty was to facilitate Illidan's escape from Kalimdor, and bring him to the Broken Isles and the Tomb of Sargeras. But the naga knew that Maiev the Watcher would be quick to follow, and so Vashj rallied her forces and battled the night elf's forces as they made their way to the Tomb, where Illidan and Vashj then stole away into its ancient corridors. When Maiev confronted Vashj, the Sea Witch told Maiev that her justice had no place there, and when the Warden demanded how she would know anything of the night elven way, Vashj replied by telling the Warden of the naga's origins. Then she slithered off to join Illidan in the Eye Chamber. Vashj and Illidan used the Eye of Sargeras to collapse the Tomb, and then escaped. Vashj took the majority of the naga to Lordaeron to make preparations for the next phase of their plan while Illidan and some servitors remained behind to deal with Maiev for good. In Dalaran, Vashj was soon joined by Illidan, who told her that Maiev had gotten reinforcements from Kalimdor, and that they would need to work quickly. Vashj got her Naga summoners on the matter and they began to work with the Eye to break apart Northrend. They would have succeeded, too, but Malfurion's Chimaeras and Faerie Dragons intervened. Vashj and her forces escaped before they could be captured, and they observed Illidan help rescue Tyrande, and then disappear into the portal to Outland. But Vashj had her own mission to concern herself with. After careful observation, Vashj saw that Kael'thas, prince of the ruined Quel'Thalas, was the perfect new recruit for the new order Illidan was fashioning. And with the ample forces Maiev had brought to Outland, Vashj knew that they would need reinforcements. Kael had been under the oppressive whip of a racist human general named Garithos, who had sent Kael and his people on meager missions that any laymen could do while keeping the elves from the front lines. Kael first encountered Vashj when he found his shipyard ruined, and thus his means across the river scuttled. She approached him with an offer of assistance. Kael was hesitant, having fought the naga alongside Maiev at Dalaran, but Vashj insisted, and Kael accepted. Vashj watched Garithos' rage at Kael's dealings with her. But Garithos then sent Kael and his elves against an invading force of undead. Kael was eager to prove himself in battle, but Garithos recalled Kael's support, siege, and cavalry units to the front lines, leaving Kael with a very meager standing force. Vashj felt that the time was ripe to intervene, and so offered her troops to strengthen his own. Kael was at first hesitant, but Vashj insisted that it was better to survive than obey the word of a rash tyrant. Together they defeated the undead forces and retook their bases. When Garithos approached, Kael ushered Vashj away, saying he could not assure her safety. She did, but watched as Kael and his people were taken away in shackles. Vashj infiltrated the Dungeons of Dalaran through the sewer system and found Kael, killed his guards, and freed him. Vashj told Kael that escape was possible through the remains of the gate Kel'Thuzad had erected to summon Archimonde. She helped Kael escape the jails and destroy Kassan's forces, robbing valuable items from the magical stores as they went, and freeing his people from their cells. Upon reaching the streets, however, Garithos proceeded to assault the portal with his forces. Vashj, Kael, and some Blood Elf engineers raced to build defensive structures to stop them before they reached the portal. After a perilous battle, however, they were victorious and fled through the portal to Outland. When they came through the portal to the shattered landscape of Outland, Vashj explained that it was once the homeworld of the orcs, but the Cataclysm had turned it into the barren, broken waste it now was, and that Illidan was somewhere waiting for them. Vashj and Kael searched fruitlessly for days, until Vashj caught a familiar scent on the wind. Illidan had been captured by Maiev and was being hauled back to her base in a magical prison wagon. Vashj and Kael battled Maiev for dominance, but finally reclaimed the wagon and brought it back to their base, where Illidan was freed. Illidan thanked Vashj for her loyalty, but Vashj gave credit to Kael. Illidan then told them of his plan to rule Outland by destroying any demonic influence there. And so Vashj and Kael defended Illidan as he closed the dimensional gates which supplied Magtheridon with his reinforcements. After they were all successfully closed, Illidan's armies marched on the Black Temple. Vashj and her naga infiltrated the aqueducts and attacked the Black Temple from a side entrance, as Akama and his draenei destroyed the automated defenses. Vashj was responsible for killing the Mistress of Torment with aid from only a few myrmidons and snap dragons for support. Eventually, they battled their way to Magtheridon, and in a titanic battle, defeated him. But Kil'jaeden appeared, and mocked their foolhardy attempt to betray him. He then commanded that they find the Frozen Throne and destroy it. Vashj, Kael, and Illidan went back to Azeroth and advanced upon Northrend, only to be met at every turn by Arthas and Anub'arak, Ner'zhul's prime generals. Finally, they reached the Frozen Throne, and the forces squared off against one another. But, in the end, Arthas opened the doors to the Throne Chamber. Illidan was there to greet him, and the two battled on the face of Icecrown. But Arthas defeated Illidan. To this day, Lady Vashj still serves her master Illidan in the wastes of Outland. Though her heart and loyalties lie with her Queen and her race, Vashj enjoys working with Illidan and sowing discord and terror wherever she can. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Vashj appeared as a villain in Terror of the Tides, a player character in Curse of the Blood Elves, and an adversary in Legacy of the Damned. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Vashj is the final boss of Coilfang Reservoir in Outland's Zangarmarsh region. Thanks to http://www.lunarfalls.com/WarCraft/index.html www.lunarfalls.com and the Warcraft RPG Book: Manual of Monsters book. From the New York Times E3 blog's Jeff Kaplan interview : "Q. Can you walk me through some of the high-level instances in Burning Crusade? We already know about Karazhan and Hellfire Citadel, and I guess the final dungeon where Illidan hangs out is the Black Temple, yes? A. Right, and then there’s Tempest Keep, which is sort of right before the Black Temple, and that’s where you’ll find Kael’Thas Sunstrider. Tempest Keep is one main building and three smaller satellite buildings floating off it. That’s all off the tip of an area called Netherstorm. And then there’s Coilfang Reservoir, which is a slightly lower level instance, and that houses Lady Vashj. Coilfang Reservoir is in an area called Zangar Marsh and you’ll obviously find a lot of naga in there. It’s not a totally underwater instance, but parts of it are sort of underwater, kind of like the Sunken Temple. That has a raid part in addition to five-man parts to it. In that sense Coilfang is a bit like Hellfire Citadel, where you have two 5-man wings that are what I call level-up content: a level 58 to 60 wing and a level 60 to 62 wing. Then you have a level 70 five-man wing and then Magtheridon’s Lair, which is a quick 40-man raid like Onyxia." Vashj, Lady Vashj, Lady Vashj, Lady Vashj, Lady Vashj, Lady Vashj, Lady Vashj, Lady Vashj, Lady Vashj, Lady